Council will eye zoning of Keen property
By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on October 18, 2009 2:00 AM
Wayne County commissioner Steve Keen's plan to move forward with a 51.17-acre development on the south side of U.S. 70 just east of N.C. 581 will take another step toward that end Monday night, as Goldsboro City Council members are scheduled to hold a public hearing regarding initiation of zoning the land to shopping center -- should the board decide to approve his noncontiguous annexation request.
A public hearing was held at the council's last meeting regarding a possible annexation of the property, just two months after the Wayne County Board of Commissioners voted down -- by a 4 to 1 margin -- his request to have the site rezoned from Residential-Agriculture-20 to Community Shopping to allow for commercial development.
No one spoke in favor of or against the request at the city's Oct. 5 meeting, and Planning Director Randy Guthrie said Goldsboro's planning board likely will recommend its approval at the council's Nov. 2 meeting.
"If I remember correctly ... I think the county thought it was consistent with their land use plan," Guthrie said Oct. 5. "I think their concern was that their development standards were just not in place yet and ours are."
After the public hearing, Guthrie asked the council to defer action on the annexation until its Nov. 2 meeting, to allow for a public hearing on potential zoning of the site to take place Monday.
Then, after both hearings are in the books, the two items -- zoning and annexation -- likely will be packaged together and the planning board likely will recommend approval, Guthrie said.
The annexation is consistent with a policy on noncontiguous annexation adopted by the City Council in September 1988 that states the property must be located within one mile of the established city limit line, the city must be able to provide police and fire protection in the area and the annexation must not have an adverse effect on the city's overall annexation plans.
Keen's site is 1.89 miles from the city limits. Annexa-tion is still allowed under such conditions if city water is available or can be reasonably made available if the tract is more than 20 acres. Water service would be provided by Fork Township Sanitary District but would be treated by the city, officials said.
But initiation of zoning for the Keen property is not the only item requiring a public hearing Monday.
A hearing will be held regarding a request from O'Reilly Automotive Inc. to have property on the south side of east Ash Street, between Spence Avenue and Durant Street, rezoned from office and institutional to general business.
A conditional land use hearing also will be held, and involves property owned by Kaye Peyton on the west side of north Spence Avenue, between U.S. 70 East and Royall Avenue.
The council also is expected to honor local radio personality Jerry Wayne who died at 38 late last month after a battle with cancer.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and will be held in the second-floor council chambers at historic City Hall.